1. Field of the Invention
Many men, and especially older men, have had radical prostate surgery as a result of cancer of the prostate, or have circulation problems caused by aging, medication that they must take regularly, or debilitating disease, which makes it very difficult for them to accumulate the amount of blood necessary to engorge the penis to form an erection. In many cases there is not adequate blood circulation left in the penis to achieve even a partial erection.
2. Prior Art
For these persons, a device has been developed that is prescribed by physicians which is made of a hollow cylinder connected through a tube to a hand-held vacuum pump which evacuates the cylinder as it presses up against the groin. The vacuum created around the penis is sufficient to pull the blood in to engorge the penis, creating a satisfactory erection. In order to sustain the erection, a constrictor ring encircles the cylinder adjacent the open end which is the end of the cylinder which seals against the groin. When the cylinder is removed, the restrictor ring is snapped off of the cylinder and onto the penis where it acts as a tourniquet, retaining all of the blood that has been drawn into the penis.
3. Deficiencies in the Art
This apparatus is partially successful, at least with some men. However, it has serious design flaws that make it incapable of being completely successful with everyone, and incapable of being used at all with certain male candidates.
Many problems are caused by the fact that the instrument seals against the groin. First, the groin must be shaved or the seal cannot be made. After the vacuum has been drawn, the constrictor ring is on the outside of the cylinder adjacent the groin, so the cylinder must be pulled back from the groin to enable the ring to be snapped into place on the base of the penis. In addition to the virtually unavoidable sting of the snapping ring, as the open end of the cylinder pulls away from the groin, it tends to pull the scrotum inside. The ring can then snap onto the scrotum creating considerable discomfort and possibly defeating the desired effects of the erection as well.
This problem is at least greatly aggravated, if not caused outright, by the fact that the user must operate very quickly or the purpose will be defeated. The moment the cylinder is removed from the groin, the vacuum vents, and instantly the blood begins exiting the penis. By the time the restrictor ring is in place, half of the blood or more may be gone and the erection is defeated. Unless the patient is fast, the exercise will only bring frustration, and for some patients it will not work at all.
Patients falling into this category as well as others may have the tendency to operate the vacuum pump at excessive vacuum levels in order to over-engorge the penis to provide a margin for loss through drainage during the ring engaging step. This is not good for the patient. The higher pressure may damage blood vessels and cause problems associated with tissue edema.
Because the strong rubber-type rubber ring that is used with this device must snap into place fast and vigorously, it can hurt considerably.
There is a need for a device which achieves the purposes of the described apparatus, but does not cause a significant proportion of the vacuum to vent and the blood to drain during the tourniquet step, so that adequate erections can be attained and maintained. Such a device should allow the patient sufficient time to apply the restraint ring slowly and in a suitable position without losing the vacuum in the process, such that the tourniquet step would not be painful. With sufficient time to apply the restraint, there should not be an incentive to the patient to over-evacuate to compensate for blood loss, with the possibility of ensuing tissue and blood vessel damage.